Matthew McConnell, CEO of Intradiem, and Ben Chacko, Country Manager for Operational Planning and Strategy at Harte Hanks, discussed how employees impact the customer experience in a Fireside Chat at the 2015 Customer Care Leadership Forum in Dallas on Feb. 26. During the chat, "Strategic Workforce Transformation – A Roadmap for the Future," McConnell and Chacko provided perspectives on today's global workforce.

According to McConnell, many departments are siloed and specialized, which can leave them "flat-footed" when it comes to customer service. However, he pointed out that task management can help an organization bolster its customer satisfaction levels because it enables an organization to better prepare for its customers: "Your frontline is far more dynamic to be able to fight those guerilla tactics differently. You’ll be able to deliver a better customer experience and you’ll be able to do it at a lower cost because the utilization of your workforce goes up so you can actually achieve better service at higher utilization word wrapped around lower cost."

In addition, Chacko noted that customer service automation tools can help an organization improve its customer interactions. These tools also can help an organization bolster its customer retention levels, Chacko said. If an organization leverages these tools, Chacko said, it can ensure its employees understand how to deliver world-class customer service consistently: "When we talk about the way that the automation helps, yes, it was utilization, but then we saw retention. Now we know that as an agent gets more training, they’re going to retain information and they’re going to be happier. There’s enough data out there to know that the more training we can provide the better the agent experience is. Like we just heard, agent experience is also customer experience."